A 32-year-old man convicted Monday in a brutal sexual battery case walked out of Criminal Court at Tulane and Broad and remains at large. "It's never happened in a trial that I've been involved in," said his attorney J.C. Lawrence, who has been practicing criminal law for at least three decades.

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Teddy Magee simply walked out the courtroom door after the verdict was announced. "I told him not to leave," Lawrence said. "He did not listen."

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office sent out a news release announcing Magee was at large after escaping from the courthouse.

A jury convicted Magee after evidence indicated he went to the 4100 block of Encampment Street in October 2010 and forced his way into the victim's bathroom. He proceeded to punch, kick and strangle her, then sexually assault her, "causing massive trauma," according to the district attorney's news release.

The victim was the only person who testified on Magee's behalf, Lawrence said. She testified she had given Magee permission to do what he did, Lawrence said.

Her testimony conflicted with statements she made to health care workers and investigators immediately after the incident, according to the DA's press release.

After the jury returned the guilty verdict, "the woman broke down and cried and caused a scene," said Judge Benedict Willard. "There was a whole bunch of commotion.

A spokesman for Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman, whose office provides security at the court, could not be reached for comment.

Willard said a warrant had been issued for Magee's arrest.

Officer Garry Flot, an NOPD spokesman, said Monday night that police have not been informed that Magee is wanted in connection with the escape.

"According to our computer," said Flot, "he's only wanted for a traffic attachment."

The district attorney's office opted to bring the sexual battery case to trial without the victim's support, "given the brutal nature of the crime," according to the news release.

The prosecution presented photographic evidence of the victim's injuries, the testimony of the medical professionals who treated her and calls the defendant made to the victim from prison in which he acknowledged the crime and chastised the victim for making a complaint to the police, according to the news release.